Tokyo Game Show
(TGS) is an annual Japanese video game expo that has been held at the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan in September since 1996. It has been used for showcasing upcoming Japanese games. Relation to the Metal Gear series Aside from the various games in the since Metal Gear Solid (which had been under the purview of Konami), due to the franchise being of Japanese origin, often being showcased in the expo, there have also been various Metal Gear-related merchandise and demos that were released during this time. This included the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: Demo - Ops downloadable demo in 2009 as well as Uchiwa fans focusing on the Peace Walker HD Edition, Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, plus two additional uchiwa fans focusing on Hideo Kojima and Yumi Kikuchi for TGS 2011. Website descriptions and/or event oveview 1997 The trailer for the then-in-development Metal Gear Solid was unveiled at TGS 1997. 1998 A trailer for Metal Gear Solid was shown. 1999 2000 2001 2002 Trailers for the then-in-development Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Zone of the Enders were unveiled at TGS 2002, which were later uploaded onto Konami's site for the event. 2003 A new trailer for the then-in development game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was unveiled at TGS 2003.http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/09/27/tgs-2003-metal-gear-solid-3-trailer 2004 Press kits for the then-impending game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater were distributed during the event. In addition, a new trailer and 30-minute gameplay demo were also released.http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/09/24/tgs-2004-metal-gear-solid-3-hands-on A trailer for Metal Gear Ac!d and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes were also unveiled as well. 2005 Although Kojima Productions lacked a website commemorating its presence in TGS 2005, it did show off a trailer that strongly hinted at the creation of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In addition, series creator Hideo Kojima made an announcement about his then-planned retirement from the franchise after the development of Metal Gear Solid 4, as well as Yoji Shinkawa's then-planned departure at the same time.http://www.gamespot.com/articles/tgs-2005-no-more-metal-gear-for-kojima/1100-6133766/ 2006 When Kojima Productions entered Tokyo Game Show in 2006, it for the first time utilized a website promoting the site via a vending machine that contained "drinks" detailing various upcoming projects as well as an overall history of the company. Upon selecting a "drink", the visitor can proceed to look at images (at least 11 or 12 in total) or just click on the can/bottle when asked if they are thirsty (if prompted). Clicking on the can/bottle upon getting it will allow you to "drink" the contents (ie, view a trailer, or otherwise access the KPblog or the official Kojima Productions website). The "drinks" representing various elements of Kojima Productions differed depending on the language setting chosen: For the Japanese site, it covered Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Lunar Knights DS, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinée, Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore; a bottle depicting Kojima Productions; a bottle depicting Hide-Chan Radio (transcribed as Hide-Chan), and a bottle giving an overview of TGS 2006. On the English version of the site, there are instead extra cans of Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid 4, with it also being conveniently sold out, the Lunar Knights DS can is moved to the bottom from where the extra Portable Ops can is, both Bande Dessinée's can and Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore can are removed, the Kojima Productions bottle is removed, with it starting on the Hide-Chan (transcribed here as Hideo Kojima, but otherwise the content is the same, being about Hide-Chan radio) bottle, and the last bottle being a coverage on the KojiPro report. Clicking on a discarded bottle near the trash can will also give a schedule for TGS2006 as well as use the trademark Exclamation point. 2007 Although there wasn't a specific website commemorating Kojima Productions' presence in TGS 2007, the Event 2007 did cover the TGS 2007 elements in part (more specifically, the portions involving the integrated site for Metal Gear Solid 4 being open, coverage on the second iteration of Metal Gear Online (including screencaps and the TGS 2007 trailer, and, for the Japanese site only, the TGS 2007 Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée trailer. In addition, it did give out three special soldiers meant for Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus: Black (transliterated as "Burakku"), a special Black Genome Soldier, Tiba, a special version of the Chiba Japanese Local Soldier, and Dodo. Kojima also confirmed that the Metal Gear Online starter kit would be bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, although he did not specify what exactly that would entail. It also announced that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, due to it selling 400,000 copies worldwide, will be getting an expansion pack known as Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, and also unveiled a new story trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4, including confirmation that REX and RAY would return. Another trailer for Portable Ops was also shown, modeled after PSX Metal Gear Solid. A trailer for Metal Gear Solid Mobile was also unveiled, and it was also confirmed that Metal Gear: Bande Desinee will have voice acting. During the event itself, Kojima also spoke about Metal Gear Solid 4, confirming it was the last game for Solid Snake.https://www.gamespot.com/articles/tgs-07-kojima-speaks/1100-6179757/ 2008 On the 2008 site, aside from the usual language options, there are also two main menus: One for Metal Gear Solid 4, and the other for Metal Gear Online. There were also three submenus for the TGS2008 event schedule, the TGS 2008 KJP Event Report, and a site detailing the goods and rewards to MGO users who attended the event, including reward points for various play tests of the Meme expansion pack and waiting pictures when interacting with Konami Touch. The MGS4 Menu gave links to two different MGS4 websites: One for beginners, and one for seasoned veterans, and also mentioned that Hideo Kojima will try to explain MGS4, and also mentioned that the magazines Dengeki PlayStation and Famitsu will discuss MGS4 at stage events on the first and second business days, respectively, and also alluded to a SCE booth event on October 9 and unveiled Guns of the HIDCHAN! Radio podcasts for October 9 and 10. For the MGO site, it gave a link to the official website, gave a live play of the final match in MGO world championship, some details of the then-upcoming Meme expansion pack, and announcements on how Japanese comedians Impulse Itakura, Robert Yamamoto, Hiking Walking, and Nicho Kenjyu Kawatani will participate in the event as well as Hideo Kojima personally participating in the exhibition matches and competing against Team Famitsu. On the Japanese site, the goods also gave details on Regain 24, sound rations, T-shirts, action figures, and i-mode. 2009 On the 2009 site, the site will start with a cassette tape playing an excerpted recording of "A Conversation Between Two Women" from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in Japanese. After the visitor either listens to it in full or simply presses skip, they are then given the option to choose between the English setting and the Japanese setting. The English site contains an announcement that the official Peace Walker site is live, some announcements about the Peace Walker demo, including instructions about downloading the demo, and also revealing prizes for playing the demo on-site at TGS2009, including three TGS-exclusive PSP button attachments, and entered into a drawing where they can potentially win an exclusive MSF badge and Peace Walker T-shirt. It also has a map of the Kojima Production-related TGS premises, and a schedule. On the Japanese site, in addition to the above, it also contains a live Twitter feed, five episodes of Hidechan Radio dedicated to the event, a link to the KPBlogcast for the event, a link detailing bonuses for using the barcode scanner of various cell phones on designated areas, and a live feed. Shortly after showing the TGS 2009 trailer, Kojima gave a speech elaborating on some bits about the plot, including that the main theme will be about the philosophy of nuclear deterrence, and also why he came onboard despite claiming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots would be his last game.http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kojima-talks-peace-walker/1100-6230488/ 2010 On the 2010 site, it is only available in Japanese, and contains various information, including a link to the Konami TGS site, a link giving details on Peace Walker summer camp, links to the Konami sites for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a Peace Walker cosplay event, a site for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, a live U-stream account by Ken, and a live Twitter feed. 2011 On the 2011 site, it gave information on several bonus Uchiwa fans, three of which were dedicated to the then-upcoming releases Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, and Peace Walker HD Edition, plus two Uchiwa fans that were kept hidden on the site and were promised to be revealed on opening day. It was later revealed that the two uchiwa fans were actually depicting faceprints of series creator Hideo Kojima and Yumi Kikuchi,http://andriasang.com/comy89/http://www.famitsu.com/news/201109/17050497.html who was present to give some details and behind-the-scenes stuff about the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection and the games contained in them, as well as some news for Zone of the Enders as well as live skits by the voice actors.http://andriasang.com/comy8m/http://andriasang.com/comy8l/ One of these news was confirmation that the Guy Savage minigame from Snake Eater had been derived from a prototype version of Zone of the Enders 3/Anubis 2.https://twitter.com/Arc_Hound/status/1054458915851788289 It also gave a Twitter feed for both Kojima and Kojima Productions, a link to the official Kojima Productions Facebook page, links to the Konami sites for the three games plus a facebook page for KonamiStyle products for that event, including a Philanthropy and FOXHOUND keychain and a Zone of the Enders napkin, and a link to the KP-blogcast. 2012 On the 2012 site, it gave some information on various Metal Gear Rising and Zone of the Enders: HD Edition, and Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops developments via checkpoints, plus info about a Metal Gear 25th Anniversary-related photo shoot and a detailed stage and event schedule, plus a Twitter feed from both Hideo Kojima and related tweets and a link to KonamiStyle. 2013 Although there was no known site commemorating Kojima Productions' presence in TGS 2013, they did cover two demos for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, one depicting gameplay during a nighttime environment, and one depicting gameplay during a relatively earlier period of time during the day. The latter also unveiled the first hint at there being side missions in the game. 2014 On the 2014 site, it gave a Twitter feed, as well as checkpoint information, information on various goods being supplied relating to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a detailed schedule, videos of live presentations relating to Kojima Productions and Metal Gear Solid V (Specifically two versions each of "Vocation," "Voyager," and "Visible", alongside "Vehement" and "Virtue"), and a map. 2015 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be a hosted game at the TGS 2015 session, as confirmed by the Konami site. It was later confirmed that it will have its own website, hosted by Konami instead of Kojima Productions owing to the latter's shutdown. It also revealed that there will be several livestreams, at least some relating to [[Metal Gear Online 3|the third iteration for Metal Gear Online]], with their occurring on September 17-18, 2015, at 12:00-12:50, 14:40-15:30 (2:40-3:30 PM), 11:30-12:20, and 12:30-13:10 (12:30-1:10 PM) JST. In addition, the official MGO3 Twitter account also inferred that a new mode will be unveiled during the event.http://www.metalgearinformer.com/?p=21878 The Daily Login Bonuses for the Online Mode of The Phantom Pain will also have additional bonuses from the 17th to the 20th to commemorate TGS 2015, specifically x(16 + 24) Digitalis Lutea, x(5000 + 2500) Common Metals (Processed), x(35 + 65) MB Coins, and x(30 + 70) MB Coins, respectively. DLC was also announced for The Phantom Pain, composing of two costumes for D-Horse, and at least five Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater-themed outfits. 2016 Metal Gear Survive was a hosted game at the TGS 2016 session, as confirmed by the official Konami site. Events included a livestreaming and a stage demo for the game on September 17. 2017 Metal Gear was a hosted game again at the TGS 2017 session, as confirmed by the official Konami site. Events included a playable co-op demo, alongside a special sticker being distributed to those who played the demo during TGS 2017.http://www.metalgearinformer.com/?p=30539 Although not Metal Gear-related, Konami on September 20 announced the release of Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner Mars for the PlayStation VR.http://www.metalgearinformer.com/?p=30645 Notes and references External links *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2006 *Kojima Productions 2007 Event website **MG20 Official Event Site (English) **MG20 Official Event Site (Japanese) *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2008 **English site **Japanese site *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2009 **English site **Japanese site *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2010 (Archived versions) *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2011 *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2012 *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2013 *Kojima Productions site for Tokyo Game Show 2014 *Konami site for Tokyo Game Show 2015 *Konami site for Tokyo Game Show 2016 (Japanese) **Konami site for Tokyo Game Show 2016 (English) *Konami site for Tokyo Game Show 2017 (Japanese) **Konami site for Tokyo Game Show 2017 (English) See also *Electronic Entertainment Expo *Gamescom *Leipzig Games Convention Category:Marketing